Today you are going to learn the D/ F# chord and understand how it is commonly used in music. Following on from Beginner Guitar Lesson 9 which covered ‘The Walk Down’ using the C sus2/B chord, we are going to apply the D/ F# chord in the same way.

Learn how to play the D/ F# chord

Understand which chords you commonly use the D/ F# chord with.

Walk Down or Walk Up

An Example of the chord used in popular songwriting

D/ F#

D/ F# Chord

First hold a standard open D major chord by placing your first finger on the 2nd fret G string

Third finger on the 3rd fret B string

Second finger on the 2nd fret high E string

Now bring your thumb around over the top of the neck and rest your thumb on the 2nd fret low E string, to do this you need to change the angle of your hand so your thumb can come over the top of the neck.

Unlike how we usually use our thumb to mute the low E string, the thumb is now used to actually fret a note so it may take some practise to be able to apply enough pressure on the 2nd fret low E string.

Theoretically the A string should note be played in this chord and so should be muted out with the overhang of the tip of your thumb, however the open A string does not sound unpleasant and actually is often used to thicken up the sound of the chord, so it is not an issue to leave it ringing out until you can mute it and then decide when to let it ring or mute the A string.

This chord would commonly be used with the open G major chord and the open E minor chord. Both of these chords have been taught in this Beginner Guitar series but for a more detailed look into open chords see Complete Beginner Guitarist.

Open G Major Chord

Open E Minor Chord

Walk Down or Walk Up?

Using the three chords mentioned in this guitar lesson you can now do a Walk Down or a Walk Up and just depends on which order you play the chords in. If you play E minor – D/ F# – G then you are playing a Walk Up because you are walking up the fretboard in pitch. If you decide to play G – D/ F# – E minor then you are playing a Walk Down as you are walking down the fretboard in pitch. Now that you have learnt this concept you will notice that it is used everywhere in songs that you love and is a must have trick to have under your belt!